Meet the team member: Neil Laing

“I was always interested in cars and did a major in auto mechanics in high school, so it’s no surprise that my first job was working at Ford on the assembly line, which I did for around ten years. Although, my very first job when I was 14 or 15 though was cooking chicken for KFC!

“After Ford, and with college courses in sales and marketing behind me, I moved into territory sales for tire firm Firestone. I was home based and covered most of Southern Ontario, so a 200-300km radius, but I was still typically home each day. There was a lot of sales and product training as part of the job. I later heard on the grapevine about an industrial sales role selling oil and industrial lubricants, and was hired based on my experience in the automotive industry.

“Once I moved into industrial sales, I became more involved in the detail of the programs and took on a technical advisor role alongside sales, identifying problems and solutions. For the majority of my time in territory sales, I was with Shell.

“In 2022, my partner Lisa Thomas moved to Miconex. The company was relatively small in Canada at the time, and I remember speaking to some of the Miconex team about their plan to develop a fulfilment centre in Canada. I was still working full time at that point but once I retired, I took on the role of setting up the fulfilment function, including setting up an office, developing processes and stocking our clients’ Gift Cards and holders. Later I supported the set-up of our US fulfilment centre too.

“A typical day involves processing orders, including both mail outs and click and collect. I’ll check email and Slack for any new tasks that may have been assigned. Our busiest time is November and December when the Holiday orders comes in, and it can also get really busy if clients are running a promotional sale. As a new client launches their Downtown Gift Card program, it’s my job to arrange the printing and shipping of the marketing materials.

“Out of work, I enjoy motorsports activities as both a driver and a spectator, including endurance sports car racing. This involves taking a BMW 325i to a road race track for a 14-24 hour race with a 4 person team, changing out the driver every 2 hours. I’m also a member of my local sports car club. If I had my time again, I’d be a pro racing driver. Lisa and I enjoy travel and typically visit the Caribbean once a year. This year, it’s the Dominican Republic. Last year, we went to France and in 2027, we’ll be going to Finland for the World Junior Hockey Championships.

“The Downtown Gift Card product is very good, I use it myself through my local card in London, the Downtown Dollars Gift Card. One of my favourite things about my job is seeing the orders come in, and the satisfaction of seeing those orders all packed and ready to be shipped. I also enjoy seeing how Miconex is growing. The Downtown Gift Cards initiative has expanded to over 40 programs across 9 provinces in Canada, and $18m in sales in Canada alone. It feels good to be a part of that success.”